More holes than a fishing net WARNING:SPOILERS

*** SPOILER WARNING ***
I'm going to discuss all the plot points, so if you haven't seen the film and want to be surprised by it, don't read this thread.

What was going on with this film? I'd blame an overzealous cutting-room editor but the problems run back to the scripting... Anyway, I was pleasantly entertained by this mystery until the very end, when the crazy twist and complete lack of explanations soured the pudding considerably. I'd expound at length but that would take pages, so let's just list a few points.

1: What about Charlie's interview with Paul Gray? Why did we never even hear Gray's side of the story? Two hours passed between his argument with Hamilton and his return to the house, followed by the discovery of the body. Where was he at this time? Did he see Richmond, or anybody else, around the stable? We see him in his cell playing draughts with the guards and being visited by his sister, why can't we see him explaining his side of things to Charlie?

2: Why would Geoffrey Richmond be so sympathetic to Pamela Gray's efforts to clear her brother's name when said brother had just been found guilty of murdering one of Richmond's family friends, the evidence against him being overwhelming?

3: Let's assume the murder did take place in the stable, as a nearly-decapitated corpse would be hard to shift about the place inconspicuously. Let's further assume that Hamilton, hunt secretary as he was, wandered into the stable to look at the horses in the natural course of things, and Richmond sneaked up behind him and gave him the chop, having previously sneaked unseen into the study to collect the knife off the wall (still with me?) Let's further assume, as I think we're intended to, that Lake was in the stable at the time and kept Hellcat quiet as Hamilton, then Richmond, entered, and that he later established an alibi at the behest of his boss who paid him off and presumably threatened him with the sack if he blabbed. Did Lake have a magical power which kept ALL the horses in the stable quiet whilst a man was violently murdered and his blood spilt all over the floor in front of them? I think even placid horses spook when you spill pints of hot blood in front of their noses, just like people do.

4: If Garton could hear Hellcat kicking her stall and whinnying from the house, how come nobody in the house heard the pistol shot which drove the fatal bullet through Lake's head later that night?

5: Has Charlie no knowledge of human anatomy? It's easy to shoot yourself directly in the centre of the forehead with a pistol held in the right hand, forefinger on trigger. All you do is turn your head to the right and look at the pistol you're holding. I'd be more suspicious of the fact that a man who'd supposedly shot himself in the forehead was stretched out on his face on the floor.

6: Was Jardine involved or not? Was he just happy to have been made hunt secretary and therefore angry at Charlie trying to exonerate the previous incumbent? Or had he been given the post by Richmond to keep him quiet? Did he have some connection with the plane-silencing plans, given his RAF past? If so, wouldn't he be guilty of high treason in abetting Richmond? Was it him who fired the air pistol at Charlie, or was it Richmond, and if so then how did Richmond get changed and back into the study so quickly?

7: Who peppered Lady Mary's horse? Even assuming that "Richmond" was unconcerned about bumping off his fiancee, how could he possibly have thrown pepper into the animal's eyes, causing it to panic and run over a cliff, without any of the dozens of other members of the hunt - a hunt he was leading! - noticing anything untoward? Fox hunts stay together when out, people don't wander off and assassinate each other, and the disappearance of the lord and lady of the manor would undoubtedly cause immediate comment.

All of the above are comparatively minor issues, small plot holes which could be attributed to a little clumsy scripting and some pressed-for-time edits. But here's the big spurting gash below the waterline.

8: What was the denouement, with the unmasking of Richmond as Frank and the butler as Captain Seton, all about? So "Richmond" was a foreign spy, I suppose we're to assume a German spy, given the surname and the historical context. How is he supposed to have masqueraded as a British landowner, one who holds regular well-attended fox hunts and has the ear of the home secretary?! "He put us off with all this front," says Seton. But Seton was installed in the man's house and was even looking for the plans in the right place, in the desk in the study! Had he just happened to infiltrate the place by accident, whilst polishing his buttling skills off-duty, and wondered if his new master might have something stashed in his desk? "Very expensive front," Charlie states. Well, yes, buying a country house and enough land to hold fox hunts on, as well as hosting the local gentry through the hunting season and getting engaged to a titled lady, are quite expensive things to do. They're also impossible for a foreign impostor who can't have been in the country that long. The English upper classes are notoriously snobbish and cliquey and the arrival of a super-wealthy, apparently English, stranger in their midst would arouse considerable comment. 18 months (the length of time Hamilton had been involved with Richmond's crowd) would not be long enough to establish this new grandee to a point where nobody would mention his recent arrival; indeed, I'm sure everybody around with longer antecedents than "Richmond" would take pains to underline his nouveau riche status, especially when scandal reared its head. He could get personal audiences with the home secretary despite being a foreign spy?! And why did Charlie accept the appearance of Captain Seton with such equanimity, with not even a "Oh, so you are cunning plant"? Why didn't Seton, on the arrival of the internationally renowned detective for the openly-stated purpose of investigating the crime he himself was sniffing around, say something to Charlie, or perhaps contact his superiors and have the home office contact Charlie?

Or was the whole thing concocted in the last two days of shooting when one of the studio bosses wandered in and said, "Can't have an English gentleman caught by a coolie, no, no, that won't do at all, make him a Jerry or something"? Either that or the script was written by manatees. After watching the interesting and well-played "Charlie Chan in Paris" I had high expectations of this film. It turned out to be just a big pile of what poor old Hamilton's semi-decapitated corpse was found lying in.